The government is expected to allow the controversial process of shale gas fracking to resume in Lancashire. European Union finance ministers have agreed a late night deal to create a new central system of supervision for banks across the eurozone. And also on the programme, could one of the world's most used pesticides be responsible for the decline in our bee population?

Exploration of shale gas off the coast of Lancashire is expected to be given the go ahead this morning. Professor Alastair Fraser, member of the Royal Society of Geology based at Imperial College London, gives a scientific view on shale gas extraction.

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0712

European finance ministers reach agreement on a eurozone banking union, which will be put to an EU summit in Brussels later. The BBC's business editor Robert Peston gives analysis.

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0716

The NHS has succeeded in making £6bn pounds of savings but a National Audit Office report today warns that it will be increasingly difficult for the NHS in England to make new efficiency savings in future years. Chris Ham, chief executive of the King's Fund, explains that savings through salary freezes can only last so long.

0719 Business news with Jonny Dymond.

0723 Craig Oliver, is David Cameron's director of communications, has been accused of threatening a national newspaper. Steve Hewlett, the presenter of the Radio 4 media show, explains the allegations.

0726 Sports news with Garry Richardson.

0732 The country's biggest police force, the MET, has been in the spotlight in recent years over shortcomings in rape investigations. The BBC's home affairs correspondent, June Kelly, examines one complainant that has received compensation from the force, and Mick Duthie, detective chief superintendent and head of Sapphire, argues that there have been improvements in policing.

0740 The paper review.

0743 British Library at Boston Spa in Yorkshire is showing off its colossal new £33m building - a new home for 300 years worth of newspapers. The BBC's Louise Jackson reports from the site.

0747 Thought for the Day with the Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks.

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0751

Evidence presented to the Environmental Audit Committee suggests a link between the widespread use of a popular pesticide and the decline in the bee population. Today programme science reporter Tom Feilden explains the findings and Dr Julian Little, the spokesman for Bayer Crop Science in the UK, gives his view of the UK study that showed a very long half life for their insecticide.

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0810

Exploration of shale gas off the coast of Lancashire is expected to be given the go ahead this morning. The gas company Cuadrilla had their operation suspended following two minor earthquakes. David Kennedy, chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change, and John Hofmeister, founder and chief executive of the non-profit group Citizens for Affordable Energy and former chief executive of Shell Oil, discuss the issue surrounding shale gas.

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0821

A change in the age at which boys reach puberty is having an effect on the millennia old tradition of cathedral choirs, new research suggests. Director of Music of New College's choir, Professor Edward Higginbottom, and Professor Martin Ashley, head of research in the Faculty of Education at Edge Hill University, discuss whether this is a real phenomenon.

0826 Sports news with Garry Richardson.

0833 David Cameron is in Brussels today for what everyone hopes will be the last EU summit of the year. Europe correspondent Chris Morris explains that discussion of closer economic and monetary union is on the agenda, primarily in the eurozone.

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0840

Google has released a native version of its Maps app for the iPhone. The BBC's technology correspondent Rory Cellan Jones explaines to the Today programme's Sarah Montague that Apple "had no choice" to let Google back.

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0844

Business news with Simon Jack in China.

0849 Teenage boys at a comprehensive school in Cornwall have started a six-month course in, etiquette. John Perry, head teacher at Fowey Community College, and Jakey Law, a 15 year old student on the course, outline how successful the course has been.

0853 Is there a growing chasm between what professional chefs want to cook and what restaurant goers want to eat? Charles Campion, food writer and restaurant critic, and Ruth Rogers, British chef and cookery writer, analyse whether chefs are doing enough to please the punters.

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